Oscar-nominated director David Fincher has turned to fans to help raise $400,000 to help fund a new project, an adult cartoon that has so-far failed to secure backing from a Hollywood studio. Getty Images

Director David Fincher has turned to fans to help raise $400,000 to help fund a new project, an adult cartoon that has so-far failed to secure backing from a Hollywood studio.

The Fight Club director is one of the creative team working to bring The Goon, a comic book running for over 12 years, to the big screen, and they have turned to Kickstarter to fund a crucial part of the process.

The creative team, which includes writer Eric Powell as well as Tim Miller and Jeff Fowler of animators Blur Studio, have already spent $500,000 of their own money in creating trailers and artwork to bring a studio on board, but so far “we haven’t gotten the job done”.

The first “proof of concept” trailer was unveiled at Comic-Con in 2010 but they now want to produce a feature length story reel that will “give Hollywood a complete look at the Goon film’s potential”.

Hardcore fans have been lobbying “for years” to back the movie, Miller said and they turned to Kickstarter, which allows anyone to fund a project often for rewards.

The creative team believe they need $35m to make the movie, which Kickstarter is not structured for. So instead they looked to raise $400,000 from fans for the story reel that will “really move the needle”. There are different levels of incentives to potential donors, from t-shirts and posters to meeting the filmmakers.

So far the project has just shy of 2,500 backers raising about $162,000 with 19 days left to raise the funds. In response to the question of why Fincher does not just fund it himself, Miller said: “Hollywood is filled with the ‘vanity projects’ of successful movie stars and producers. It really is not as easy to get a film made no matter who you are.”

The director said: “If you’re torn, ask yourself: Does Hollywood know better than you.” It seemed likely that the creative team will invest further from their own pocket.

Fincher, on board as a producer, added: “I marvelled at the characters and was smitten with the mise-en-scene, but it was the language… that unlikely Powellian patois that absolutely hooked me.”